"Huh. I wonder if there's... less ambient negative energy or something, that fewer of the dead rise."

"Does negative energy come from people using magic, perhaps?" Suggests Leon.

"No, or the Pharasmins would be against it."

"Hmm... Is there a god of hunting?"

"God of machines?" Nuts asks.

"Erastil is the god of hunting as well as agriculture. There... might be an obscure god of machines but we don't have them in such a central place as you do here so I cannot call one to mind, they wouldn't be very widely mentioned."

"Well, I'll pray to Erastil that they're still having good results with the hothouse, I suppose."

"God of crafts? Learning? Discovery?" Nuts persists.

"Shelyn is the goddess of art? Nethys is the god of knowledge as well as magic but he is understood to be insane."

"Oh well."

Joseph speaks up. "I'd like to hear or read some of the Acts of Iomedae, until June comes back and we can set a night watch. You've mentioned them but I don't think we've yet been curious enough to ask."

"Come to think of it, I think I'll go walk with June while she prays for the dead," Leon says. "So nobody's off alone. Just in case. We can bed down in an hour or two and rest up for tomorrow."

"I don't think I'll be very good at live-translating the Acts but I can try."

His audience appreciates the attempt and can even attempt a thoughtful analysis and criticism of it.

The next day they have a hard hike up to a peak to get a good view and survey the surroundings. It's smooth sailing for about two thirds of the way up, and then a large floe of snow makes an ominous deep creaking noise.

Leon signals 'stop' and 'quiet' with hand signs, then huddles everyone up and speaks in a steady near-whisper.

"Don't make any loud noises. That sound is an avalanche waiting to happen. June, what do you think?"

"Avalanche will kill us even with the Endure thing. It'll bury you. We gotta go back down."

"Trigger it from far away and come back?" Nuts suggests.

"Do you have a bomb you can set off on a timer, or the like?" Headshake. "The only other way would be to shoot at it from a safe distance- Miles away. That seems unreliable. No, just avoid the whole business, I think. We can go back and do our best to navigate without the benefit of height. Anyone else have any thoughts?"

"I can try Snow Shape, if you know what part of it needs to be shored up."

"...I think... If anything it would be the underlayer- The sound came from that flat section there... And what you would need to do is help it stick to the rock underneath, in a more packed-down form. But any sudden change might just trigger it instead."

June adds, "I've got a feel for avalanches and my gut says it's maybe one in twenty to trigger it if we walk across, and it'll probably be a small one as avalanches go. We're safer above it than below it. Don't know what Snow Shape will do to it."

"Snow Shape covers ten cubic feet. I have to touch at least a little corner of what I'm shaping, but just barely brushing it is fine. Once I've got it, I don't think it will fall, but what's below it might."

"We're risking too much for not enough," Leon says after a bit of thought. "It'd probably be fine, but once in a while you roll snake eyes. Worth taking that risk to save lives, not to save time. Down we go. Carefully, and around north."

The rest of the party seems a bit relieved.

Blai obeys.

They go around north. They're officially in unknown territory for the Old Wreck crew. They end up making camp on a convenient patch of rock instead of something so convenient as a structure, with a ridge visible on the horizon that they hope to get to tomorrow.

Later that afternoon they hear the distant, echoing booms of the avalanche going off. 

"It's gotten warmer this week," June says. "That's what did it, I'd bet. Not melting-warm but warm enough that something shifted and slipped. I guess good signs for the future can have nasty results in the meanwhile."

"Amen."

They'd really appreciate a bit more reading and discussion on the Acts. Leon presses him for whatever he can recall of Erastil. And then they can sleep.

From atop the ridgeline, reached the next day, they can see part of a massive frozen river or possibly a bay- A different one than they were walking previously. Joseph definitely remembers it being west of New London, recognizing the distinct pair of mountains framing it- One sharp and tall, the other broad and low. He's very confident that New London lies beyond those two mountains, along the frozen path. From this vantage point, they can also see lights and activity around some sort of structure on a mountain to the north. Taking turns peering through the telescope, it's obvious there's a large crowd of people moving around some sort of sprawling camp. It's out of the direct, known path to New London, though.

"I can see arguments for detouring to see who's there, and bypassing to ask New Londoners about them first."

The rest of the party sans Joseph think they want to check the outlying community first, as a less conspicuous place to check. Also, maybe dress properly for the cold instead of lightly to move faster so they don't stand out?

"If you don't want to reveal how foreign I am I also shouldn't speak; I have a considerable accent."

"An odd accent isn't quite as notable as immunity to cold." This is said in a tone of dry understatement. 

"It might still prompt questions."

They eventually decide to head to the outlying settlement; It proves to be a sort of slum area. New London allows productive outsiders only to enter the city. Limited exceptions for immediate family of those permitted to enter. There is a cablecar setup leading towards the city with rotating cables, and a fortified complex with an office where you explain or demonstrate your skills. It has high walls topped with razor wire, guard towers, the works. Armed guards and twelve-foot metal automata with brutal steel cudgels. Long lines of desperate people queuing for the chance to prove their worth.

The little settlement of Snowdrift is positively seething with tension. There are clear signs of gangs running particular little blocks of dilapidated improvised shelters. Blocks of semi-passable construction where steam or smoke is emerging are the most guarded and also the most crowded by far. The best-armed of the lot have a fortified cave on the mountain. There are mass graves. There are a lot of sick and starving people. There's no guards at the edges of the settlement; Merely a dozen petty groups in a clear tense faceoff. They're taking tolls for passing through 'their territory', but on noticing four guns on five people who move like they're comfortable in the cold, they don't bother the scout team.

Rumors of the city roil; They say that you can get bread and a room for free there. They say that you can buy your way out of community service. They say that they mix things into the food to stretch it, but at least there's food. They say that there's only a year's worth of coal left. They say that the Evolvers cut off their own limbs to replace them with superior mechanical versions. They say that the Faithkeepers are protesting against the proposed law for communal child-raising, stealing babies from their parents and raising them in creches. They say that you can bribe your way into the city, just say you're 'proving your ability to generate value'.

Oh wow does Blai have to form opinions on any of that right now? That sounds hard.